Experimental validation of imbalance difference model to estimate common-mode excitation in PCBs

We have proposed a common-mode antenna model that is designed specifically for estimating common-mode radiation from printed circuit boards (PCBs) very quickly. The model is composed of an antenna that has the same geometry as the adjacent ground plane of the PCB and an excitation source based on an imbalance difference model. The excitation source is provided by the product of Deltah and V_N, where Deltah is the difference in current division factors related to the cross-sectional structure of the transmission line, and V_N is the voltage between the signal line and return plane of the transmission line. Here, we describe an experimental validation of the common-mode excitation carried out by measuring the reduction in radiation due to a guard trace placed close to a signal line with a narrow return plane. As a result, it was found that the total common-mode excitation can be given by a superposition of two excitation sources. The results also suggest that when designing the PCB, the guard trace should be grounded at the interface between different ground-plane widths to suppress noise.